Before the athletes took centre stage at the European Championships in Alanya, Renato Bertrandi was re-elected as the President of the European Triathlon Union.

The Italian has been interim President of the ETU since Eilat last year, but will now serve a full four year term until 2017.

Dr Sarah Springman stepped down from the ETU board which allowed Denis Jaeger to be elected to the role of Vice President.

Ian Howard (GBR) and Chris Kitchen (IRE) were elected to the ETU Board, replacing Henrique Arraiolos (POR) and George Yerolympos (GRE).

Secretary General Kathleen Smet (BEL), Treasurer Alicia Garcia (ESP) and Board members Eugene Kraus (LUX) and Kris Piatkowski (POL) were all re-elected and retain their positions on the Board.

In line with the constitution, the Board should elect a third Woman onto the Board and they will now begin the process of co-opting another member. This will be for a period of one year before the next Annual General Assembly were there will be elections for one position on the Board.

Mr Bertrandi said: “I was very happy to see so much participation at the Congress, also by the two National Federations that are, at present, just provisional members, Georgia and Armenia.

“There was a great spirit of collaboration and friendliness among all Federations that made the overall Congress constructive and focused on the challenging tasks that we will face in the years to come.

“The new Executive Board and almost all Committees are completed or they will be by mid July. By mid July, two commissions will be created, one to work on Races and the other on Marketing.  After having completed the financial recovery we now have to explore, in a structured way, the possibility of getting financial help from partners interested into our product and values.”

On a thrilling weekend of sport, which saw over 20 National Federations win medals across Elite, Junior, Age Group and Paratriathlon competitions, Bertrandi said: “The races have been great and I was particularly happy with the Female Junior Results, as the first 10 athletes where all from different National Federations.

“This is a great sign that the gap between the more experienced Federations and others is decreasing and that developing Federations are becoming more competitive.”

The President was also delighted by the closing ceremony, which saw ETU Board, Technical officials, hundreds of Athletes (Elite and Age Groups), Coaches, LOC and volunteers come together in a party atmosphere to celebrate a tremendous Championships.

Addressing the crowd, Bertrandi said “These are the kind of events that we want to put on and it is fantastic to see so many people enjoying themselves here.”

For more information on the new ETU Committees, click here.

Picture: The ETU Board from left to right: Chris Kitchen (IRE), Kris Piatkowski (POL), Eugene Kraus (LUX), Alicia Garcia (ESP), Dr Sarah Springman CBE (departing), President Renato Bertrandi (ITA), Denis Jaeger (FRA), Ian Howard (GBR), Kathleen Smet (BEL)